Posted by historybuff
on August 11, 2009, 4:39 pm, in reply to "Re: Where was Sunnyside?"
68.49.189.232
I wsrote a response and it got lost. I went to the Virginia Room of the Fairfax Library and located the microfilm for 1/9/16. There were several photos of Sunnyside and environs. Large place, 244 acres. It was owned by the Brooks family who apparently bought it from the Berrys. Interesting fact: The Chesapeake Beach Railway had several small lean-to stations in the area. The right of way was purchased from the families, and the first three stations after Seat Pleasant were Brooks, Behrend, and Berry. The Berry station was located in the back yard of Concord. The Rambler says there was a bridge there. He said there were three trestles almost as soon as you left Seat Pleasant.
Another wonderful fact is that there was a substantial marl deposit on the Sunnyside property which was prized for the marl itself but also for study by paleontologists. I love that Rambler!
previous Message--
: I wrote this before but it did not come
: through. There is a wonderful website
: called historicaerials.com. I saw an aerial
: photo of Sunnyside after I read the location
: in your response. It was there in 1949 and
: in the early 1960's, jut as you said.
:
: --Previous Message--
: Thank you! I suspected as much. I located
: some Evening Star microfilms at the Martin
: Luther King branch of the DC library but had
: a difficult time viewing them. I am glad to
: know that there are other locations. I will
: let you kmow if/when I locate the
: article(s). Summer is my busy season and I
: may not get back to research until Fall.
: There was some mention made of the Margaret
: Drown murder around Sunnyside, and the
: Rambler wrote about it. I will see what I
: can find. Thank you for the date of
: publication.
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: I submitted a response to your question
: about
: Sunnyside several weeks ago, but I
: discovered, looking at the website today,
: that it was somehow not recorded, so I
: assume that you never got it. Yes, Shannon
: (the Rambler) did include a photograph of
: Sunnyside in his column in the 9 January
: 1916 Washington Evening Star. I have not
: had a chance to look it up, but will hope to
: before too long. Perhaps you will have a
: chance before that, to see just what the
: Rambler says about Sunnyside. Sunnyside was
: the home of Alonzo Berry (1828-1896) in the
: 1850s and 1860s, and was located on the
: north side of what is now Central Avenue,
: about 2 miles east of the eastern point of
: the District of Columbia. (There were many
: Berry family plantations in this area.)
: Alonzo Berry left Prince George's County
: after the Civil War, and I'm not sure what
: happened to his handsome house - it was not
: recorded in the Historic American Buildings
: Survey of the 1930s, but I think I can see
: it on the first aerial photographs of the
: area (1938), and possibly in the 1965
: aerials. It must have been destroyed around
: that time - the area where Sunnyside stood,
: approximately the 7800 block of Central
: Avenue, is densely developed now.
:
: If you get a chance to check the Rambler
: files at the Historical Society of
: Washington, or the Evening Star microfilms
: at the Library of Congress or the University
: of Maryland, before I do, I hope you will
: let me know what you find.
:
: Susan G. Pearl, Historian
: Prince George's County Historical
: Society
:
: --Previous Message--
: I see that the Rambler (J. Harry Shannon)
: took
: photos of a Berry property at Sunnyside.
: Where is that?
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
Message Thread
« Back to index